We had planned to hike the standard route to the falls via the Teneriffe trail, however the lot was closed(at 10 am). So we headed to the Mount Si lot to take a different route. Not entirely sure why the lot was closed, as it was free of snow. We ended up making a loop so came out at the Teneriffe lot(more later in report).
The bathrooms at mount Si are open, but the women's side is out of TP. One bathroom at the Teneriffe lot is open, but it has nice TP.
Wasn't going to let a closed gate ruin the plans to see this waterfall, so we took the mount Si trail up for the first half mile, then turned onto the Roaring Creek Trail, which links up to the Mount Teneriffe trail. It added mileage, but was well worth it.
There are some blowdowns on the mount Si trail, a few maples fell during the storms, some are clear, others are not. None are big, or too bad getting over though. Someone was already coming through with a saw taking care of some. Thank you!
The Roaring creek trail was lovely, we didn't see anyone else on it, and there are multiple bridges and small waterfalls. Really glad we ended up taking this route.
The old forest road section of the Teneriffe trail is easy, and had some small peek-a-boo views. There is some snow and ice on the lower part of the Teneriffe trail, it isn't on the upper parts, so it's not so bad, but the compact ice is SLICK.
After the turn up the falls trail it gets steeper and the terrain gets rockier. The switchbacks are tight, but nothing too steep. Partway up this section the view opens up for a great view of the valley and surrounding mountains. Wasn't expecting any real views on their trail, so that was a nice surprise.
There are two viewpoints for the falls, the upper and lower. We went to the lower, and that was pretty cool(but the upper is better). The final push to the upper falls is the steepest, but again, not too bad.
This waterfall is way bigger than it appears in pictures. I was really impressed. Waterfalls are usually not my thing, but this one is worth seeing. You can get right up close to it. But be careful as the rocks are extremely slippery, and there are many places where a very bad fall could occur.
Pictures really don't do this waterfall justice, I was expecting it to be smaller and less exciting based on what I'd seen online. If you like waterfalls definitely check this out!
One our way back down we decided to cut some mileage off and take the Teneriffe trail back down to the Teneriffe lot. It was still locked at 3:15 pm. Then we walked the road for the half mile or so back to the Si parking lot.
Overall a very cool waterfall, and a slightly longer venture, but the unexpected beauty of the forest delivered. Hopefully the lot opens up more in the future.
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